Volume
by Hropkey
Summary: Hikari's life is destroyed after her neighbor, Eiji, becomes a regular. Now, with a little help from an unexpected friend, she's ready to speak up loud and bring back her life. Eventual EijixOC. A romancehumordrama fic, for lack of better words. COMPLETE!
1. Whisper

It seemed like it couldn't have been that long ago, when it in fact had been ten years. Ten years since they had met; ten years since he had ruffled up her hair excitedly and she had yelled back at him sharply; ten years since they showed up at the sidewalk between their houses only to see they had given the same gift- milk candies- as apologies.

Ten whole years.

The years had melted by the same way the milk candies had- quickly but leaving a sticky-sweet residue that was hard to forget unless you washed your hands, and even then the sugar still lingered. They still gave each other milk candies sometimes, when they were bored or were walking back to school. Sometimes one of his siblings would throw it out the window of their house, into one of their hands as they walked to school together, the same as they had for years. It went on like that for a very long time, up until their second year of middle school.

"NYA! NII-CHAN! LOOKIT THIS!" Really, she was only a few months older, but that didn't stop him from calling her an older sister- or, at that, a sister at all.

"What?" she asked, slipping a milk candy into his open hand as she did from time to time.

"I WON THE RANKING MATCHES!!"

"Really? That's great!" she exclaimed, giving him a hug and popping a milk candy into her own mouth. She still remembered a few years ago when he, one of the prodigies in the area, was still playing in the street courts, wowing everyone with his fluid, acrobatic movements. He still wowed everyone, though not in the same way. She had met his doubles partner on a few year-wide projects, and he seemed nice enough- a bit stoic, but nice. It was just like Eiji to unwillfully choose someone so unlike him, yet match so perfectly.

"I know, Nii-chan!" It was easy to tell he was giddy with excitement. He popped the milk candy into his mouth, promptly choked on it, and spit it into the street. Hikari laughed and laughed, smiling widely. Eiji grinned, kicking the tiny white dot farther into street so a car would eventually run over it. They sat on the corner for a second, then exploded into laughter as it was squashed into the street, a permanent reminder of that day.

"Hey, Eiji, can you come over? I'm planning on helping Oka-san make a pie and-"

"Already a yes! I'll be right over, I just need to drop off my tennis bag at home," he exclaimed proudly.

"No prob- you can keep it at our house for a while. Check with your Oka-san, though, kay? Remember what happened last time?"

"Right." Eiji's eyebrow furrowed for a second, then returned to his customary smile.

But the damage was already done. That furrow of the eyebrow, unseen by Hikari, was the mark of something that lasted all through the rest of their second year, and some of their third first. As Eiji drifted away, spending more and more time practicing tennis and less and less time talking to Hikari, even choosing Fuji over her during partner projects, Hikari started to drift away too. The real Hikari. Hikari was still a physical being, still small and short and pretty, but it seemed as if she turned into a shell. She turned quiet and made herself small, hardly ever speaking and never sharing an opinion. And soon, there was almost no Hikari in Hikari left.

That was why it was a surprise when she turned up to tennis club practice one day.

There were a few stares, as she looked too old to be in Ryoma's fan club, but it was obvious that she was there for something. She walked up to a certain red head, tugging on the back of his Seigaku Regular windbreaker.

"Eiji."

Eiji jumped, now unaccustomed to hearing the voice that was once so familiar. Even Fuji stopped for a moment and looked over. I Satou-san never talks… so why is she talking to Eiji? /I he thought, turning back to his game just to return a shot.

"Hoi hoi, Hika-chan! What're you doing here?"

Once again, Fuji stopped to listen, only this time Inui joined in too.

"Listen, can you come to street courts later? Just to throw a ball around, I mean."

"Sure, Hika-chan. Why so suddenly?"

"I… kind of need to talk. To you, I mean."

By now, Momo and Ryoma were also listening intently. All four had one thought on their mind.

"Hoi hoi! I'll be right there once practice is over!" And, sure enough, practice ended. Eiji went in to the locker room to change into some shorts and a T-shirt now that practice was over, and Hikari opened her cell phone to tell her mom she was going to be late coming home. Fuji, Inui, Momo, and Ryoma were all oddly silent in the locker room. Inui was the first one out. He picked up his bag, only to realize he was being followed.

"Ah, so I guess we had the same idea, huh?" Fuji said, smiling serenely. Momo and Ryoma followed closely. "We didn't miss anything, did we?" Momo said excitedly. Fuji and Inui shook their heads in response.

"Well, we're off- project Kikumaru Eiji and Satou Hikari!"

It wasn't hard to find them. They were at a series of street tennis courts, with Hikari about to serve.

"So, what's up?" Hikari hit the ball, her wrist flipping sharply after the rest of her arm, remaining silent. Her words came out as a whisper, barely audible. "You'd think you'd have noticed. Eiji-chan, you have great eyesight, but you're awful at noticing people."

"What do you mean, Hika-chan?"

"Go easy, I haven't played in a while! I mean that-" Hikari's wrist flipped sharply again. "I mean that you haven't noticed that I haven't properly talked to you in months, Eiji."

"Hika, stop doing that wrist thing, you're gonna break your wrist. And I've talked to you, whenever we walk to school!"

"Eiji, how many milk candies have I given you lately?"

Eiji dropped the arm holding the racket for a second. "…Oh."

The Quartet was hanging on to their every word. "Milk candies!" Momo hissed. "That has to be a code name for something- like kisses! Eiji hasn't kissed her at all lately, the brat!" It took Fuji and Inui combined to keep Momo in the bushes.

"MOMO!"

… However, it was not enough to keep Ryoma quiet.

"Nani?"

Eiji dropped the racket to his side as an easy lob dribbled by him.

"What is it?"

"I thought I heard something…" He shrugged. "Ah well." The combined efforts of Momo, Fuji, and Inui were barely enough to keep Ryoma quiet.

"What were you thinking, screaming like that?" whispered Momo harshly.

"It was because you were about to jump out of the bushes-"

"BOTH OF YOU!"

"Huh? Was that Inui?" Eiji thought out loud. Hikari simply gave Eiji a quizzical look and returned the ball. It rolled by on Eiji's half of the court pathetically.

"Nya, Hika-chan, how long has it been since you played tennis?"

"… A while."

"How long?"

"Since, erm, you became a regular."

"Why?"

Silence. Then, much less than a whisper, fighting through all of Hikari's mental blocks, it came. "… Jealousy." With a I bang /I that radiated through the tennis courts, Hikari dropped her racket- and the little opinion that she gained in the short not-even-a-match.

"Oi, Hika-chan!" Eiji ran after her. He knew where she was going.

Meanwhile, Inui picked up the rackets. "It's a plot device," he said calmly, tucking them neatly into his own tennis bag. "For blackmail."


	2. Mutter

**Title:** Mutter

**MSWord Page/ Word Count:** 3 ½ / 1,258

**Author's Notes:** Huge, huge thanks to my beta/pen pal/best friend, Michigo, and her RL friend, Remi, who were the first ones to hear this story. Sorry I forgot to do this for the last chapter. This is my first fanfic- it's probably going to end up having 6-8 chapters, depending on how fast the story goes.

**Summary:** Hikari faces her anger at Eiji; Fuji faces Hikari without doing anything. A Fujicentric chapter.

Hikari made it home long before Eiji did. By the time Eiji was knocking the Satou's door, Hikari had slammed the door shut, her eyes full of angry tears, tore off the covers, and forced herself into an upset sleep full of thrashing and monstrous nightmares. Eiji, on the other hand, barely picked at his food and spent the rest of the night thinking of something cheerful to say to the rest of the regulars. However, he needn't have, for Inui, Momoshiro, and Ryoma jumped on his case as soon as he showed up yawning during morning practice.

"So, where were you last night, Eiji? Out with your GIRLFRIEND?"

"Nya? What are you guys talking abou-"

"Oh, you know perfectly well! You were with Satou-senpai last night!"

As the words registered into Eiji's brain, he burst out laughing. "Hika-chan? You think Hika-chan is my GIRLFRIEND?" Eiji's laughter almost drowned out their dumbfounded faces.

"KIKUMARU!"

"Hai, buchou?"

"Stop gossiping. Twenty laps."

"Hai, buchou, Eiji muttered, starting to run.

"I won't need these, then," Inui said, pulling out two rackets, one with an E on the bottom and one with an H, leaving them on a bench during practice. Fuji took a quick glance at them before continuing his match.

---

"Ah, Satou-san," Fuji said later that day. "You forgot this." He stuck out a small, bright blue tennis racket.

"Arigatou," she said, looking up for a moment at his face but looking down just as quickly. Fuji smiled again, walking off to his customary seat next to Eiji.

Hikari sat in the front row, in the very middle. It gave her a chance to concentrate on her studies and not much else. Ever since Eiji had become a regular, Hikari's grades had slowly gotten better and better until she had consistently become on of the best students in the year. Her work was always prim, precise, and unemotional.

There were whispers as Hikari stuck the racket in her book bag, the handle sticking out at an awkward angle. Hikari didn't notice; she hadn't been noticing a lot of things lately.

"First period is English," said a tall, black-haired woman at the front of the class loudly. "Divide into groups of three or four to do the back side of Friday's worksheet on irregular verbs". Eiji tugged at Fuji's sleeve.

Hikari usually worked on group projects with a gang of giggling girls who had nothing better to do but gossip and chatter away the whole period while Hikari worked diligently. Then, just a few minutes before the period was over, they'd look up, gape, and proceed to copy the answers from Hikari's sheet. She didn't object; why should she? It was good for all of them. They got good grades; she got protection from the teasing she would have gotten otherwise.

However, just as the Gaggle settled into their customary seat (s), Eiji and Fuji slipped in. "You don't mind us taking these, do you?" Fuji said cheerfully. The Gaggle gaped. Eiji and Fuji, the Dream Pair, were possibly the most wanted boys in the class (though they were cheerfully clueless.) Satou Hikari, who never talked and who had (apparently quite suddenly) taken an interest in tennis was now talking to Fuji Syuusuke and Kikumaru Eiji. This groundbreaking discovery was, apparently, mind-blowing; the Gaggle immediately went off to gossip with the Others.

"So, what's up, Hika-chan?" Eiji said cheerfully, eyeing the blue racket still sticking awkwardly out of her bag.

Hikari used her foot to tuck her book bag beneath her desk. "Why do you need to know, _Kikumaru?_"

Eiji simply gaped. "Hika, why'd you get so mad at me yesterday?"

"What happened yesterday?" she mumbled, picking up her pencils.

"HIKARI, WAIT!" Eiji stood up, grabbing her arm. Fuji smiled, looking down at his paper. And as for the gaggle?

Let's just say whispers had never been stopped so abruptly.

Hikari turned around, an angry fire in her eyes. "Kikumaru, if you opened your eyes once in a while then you wouldn't have to ask. And I'd appreciate it if you called me Satou-san like everybody else." She spun on her heels to ask the teacher if she could work on her paper alone.

Eiji sighed, falling into his seat as Fuji finished up the last question.

---

"Hey, Nakamura-san?"

"Oh, yes?"

"You're good friends with Satou-san, right?"

"Well, I guess so-"

"Can you give her this note?"

"Okay."

---

It was the weekend, the two days where, traditionally, you didn't have any type of responsibility whatsoever, a small slice of freedom for everyone. However, Hikari had somewhere to go. "I'll be back later," she said, finishing up a small breakfast and grabbing a tennis bag.

"You've been awfully busy lately," her mother said.

Hikari merely shrugged. "I have things to do," she said simply, walking out the door.

Fuji was already at the street courts by the time Hikari arrived. "Ah, good, you're hear," he said reassuringly. "I was about to call."

Closing her eyes, Hikari simply nodded. "So, what are we going to do? Just toss a ball around?"

Fuji nodded back serenely. "Yeah, and I wanted to ask you a few questions about Eiji."

Hikari looked at Fuji for a second, as if about to answer, then looked back down at her feet, muttering a quick, "Okay." She reached into her bag, pulling a bright blue racket. Fuji grabbed a few balls from a box near the steps that led up to the courts.

"I'll serve," Hikari said quickly, pulling a ball out of his hands, not realizing that her fingernails had lightly touched his palm. Fuji quickly stuffed his hand in his pocket to stop it from shaking.

"I'm not going to let the Seigaku tensai serve first," she muttered, quickly choosing a court without input from Fuji. Fuji's hand, meanwhile, had finally stopped shaking. He quickly grasped his racket and chose the side opposite Hikari.

Hikari served, her wrist flipping sharply. Fuji frowned, not even bothering to get the ball. "What's that thing with your wrist? You're gonna break it, you know."

Hikari simply sighed. "Will you please at least try to return the serve? And the wrist thing is just a habit." She served again, this time her wrist remaining stoic.

Hikar- no, Satou-san. Eiji calls her Hikari, not you. But Satou Hikari- when did she start talking?

"Well, break that habit," he said simply, easily returning her shot to a corner.

Hikari ran towards the shot, but it was too late- it bounced almost a meter away from her racket.

Fuji smiled. He hadn't even opened his eyes the whole time. Hikari simply stared unabashedly at him for a moment, and then went to pick up the ball and serve back.

The game continued weakly from there. Poor Hikari, who hadn't even picked up a tennis racket for over a year after being so dedicated for so long, was going up against the tensai of Seigaku. The match went on silently, and Hikari almost forgot what he had said earlier until about half an hour later, when they had finally decided to take a break.

"Oh, Fuji-san!" she said suddenly, a bottle of water that she didn't really need halfway to her mouth. "What did you want to ask me about Eij- Kikumaru-san?"

Fuji looked at her for a second. "You're really mad at him, huh?"

Hikari simply shrugged. "I guess you could call it that," she answered, stuffing a racket into her bag and going down the steps two at a time.


	3. Lessons in Speaking Softly

**Title:** Lessons in Speaking Softly

**Word/Page Count:** 1,472/5

**Author's Notes:** Sorry this update took so long- I had a school holiday and my inspiration was bleeped (weird, I know, but instead of reading or drawing or whatever when I have extra time in class, I write in color coded notebooks.) So, I finally have the third chapter done. Un-betaed, cause I couldn't find Michigo, but I'll get the betaed version up soon.

**Summary:** Hikari contemplates Fuji; Fuji contemplates Hikari (both with stranger than usual results). Eiji tries unsuccessfully to mend the break between him and Hikari, but just ends up getting good advice from an otherwise useless friend instead.

_I guess you could call it that._

The words echoed in Fuji's head the whole day, long after Hikari had walked off. She hadn't been mad, even- just tired. Tired and a little bit frustrated.

But there was one thing that he couldn't get over- _Hikari had talked. _To him. Talking to Eiji was inevitable- he was so bubbly and childish it took all effort not to laugh near him, let alone talk. But Fuji was different. He was… quieter, at the least. Almost as if he had grown up faster than everyone else, as if he had been put on a fast-forward into a world where he was still childish and still silly, but in the kind of way that was respected and was known- if that kind of way existed.

However, the fact that Hikari had said anything at all- and some opinions, no less- was a miracle in itself. It seemed as if her shell had been broken.

Almost.

The teacher didn't have any group projects for almost two weeks after the Incident, as it came to be known among their classmates. Hikari, against all of her efforts, had managed to talk to Eiji.

Two words. That was it. "Thank you." And then she closed her mouth. Even her mother noticed the change.

"That's a little odd, Hikari," her oka-san had said casually the next Saturday.

"What?" she answered quietly, not even looking up from the magazine she was flipping through.

"This Saturday you don't have anything planned. What a shame- you were doing well, too."

Hikari sat up abruptly. "What do you mean, I was doing well?"

Her mother shrugged. "It's just that you've been off with boys every afternoon for so long, I'm just not used to it."

Hikari simply rolled her eyes. "Kaa-chan, I was off with Kikumaru and Fuji, that boy who lives near the park. They're just my-" A word was on the tip of her tongue, but she refused to say it. "They're just my classmates, is all."

Hikari's mother smiled. "Fine, fine, whatever you say." Rolling her eyes, Hikari turned back to her magazine as she updated herself on the latest chapter of Ouran High School Host Club. However, even she couldn't help noticing how much effort it took for her to say Kikumaru.

---

The street courts were packed the next day.

It wasn't much of a surprise to Hikari that she was at the street courts. The thing that did surprise her, however, was that she wasn't surprised. She bounced the racket up and down, up and down in her hand. It felt steadier- her return to tennis had been going smoothly, though she still wasn't quite sure why she had returned. She grabbed a tennis ball out of a box in the front of the courts.

"Satou-san."

"AHH!" Hikari screamed, turning around to face someone familiar. "Sadist," she muttered, trying to compose herself but falling short between the syllables.

"Ah, so you started talking again, I see."

"Shut up. Please. I'm still made at Eij- Kikumaru, you know."

"I know."

Hikari stopped for a moment, facing him, but then bent down to pick up the ball she had dropped.

"How did you know?"

"It's easy to tell." Hikari was tempted to roll her eyes, but eventually resisted it.

"And why's it so easy?"

"That's simple. When you weren't angry with Eiji, you talked outside of the tennis courts too. Now you only talk here."

As much as Hikari would have liked to deny it, he was right- tennis seemed to be her only was of talking. It was odd- the words flowed so easily when she was holding a racket in her hands, and she could be confident in the fact that whatever she said wouldn't be judged and analyzed. However, outside of the courts… She shook her head, clearing her mind. She didn't need to be thinking of these things, not now.

"So… Do you want to play?"

Fuji nodded, starting to grab the ball out of Hikari's hand. She quickly pulled away, for more than one reason. "I told you before, I'm not going to let you serve first," she muttered. Hikari said it seriously enough, but there was almost a little teasing quality to it, as if it was something that she didn't want to repeat but repeated anyway. Fuji quickly closed his eyes, not realizing they were open.

Hikari smirked. If she wasn't been careful, she would turn into a sadist too.

She threw the ball up, but missed it as it was coming down. "Hold on," she muttered, picking it up and tossing it up again. Again, she swung and missed it by several inches. Sighing, she picked up the ball again and was just about to throw it up when Fuji quickly said, "I'll serve." Hikari nodded graciously. _What is going on today?_ she thought, gripping her racket harder. Fuji grabbed a ball out of his pocket and served, lightly and easily.

"You're not playing seriously," Hikari said bluntly, returning the ball just as lightly and easily. Fuji lobbed the ball over her head. "Why would I have to?" he replied cheerfully. Hikari simply rolled her eyes as the ball landed back near the baseline. She ran after it grudgingly, but as she picked it up, it slipped out of her hand. Her eyes widened. _What is wrong with me today? _she thought, but quickly pushed it out of her head. _Just a bad day. That's all. _She grabbed it again, this time successfully, and threw it over to Fuji.

Fuji frowned for as second. "Are you sure you're okay, Satou-san?"

"I'm fine," she said quietly. "But Fuji-san- I-I think I'm gonna retire for the day." Without another word, she stuffed her tennis racket into a bag and ran down the stairs, nearly crashing into a few people on the way down.

"Eh? Hika-cha-" But she was already gone.

"Fujiko-chan, was that just Hika-cha-"

"Yes." Eiji was a bit taken aback by the abruptness of his answer. "You saw her?"

"Yeah, just now. I played a quick game with her." It took a few seconds before Eiji remembered to close his mouth.

"Why?"

"Oh, she just showed up." Eiji made a mental note to come to the street courts more often.

"What'd she say?"

"That she's still mad at you." There was a dull thud in Eiji's brain. _Well, duh, _he thought. _I know that much. I just still don't know why she's not speaking to me._

"Well, I know that! But _why?"_

"I think she was offended."

"By WHAT?"

"I'm not sure yet." Eiji made sure Fuji didn't see him rolling his eyes.

"But I'm sure it was by something you said or did."

"Fuji?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind just playing tennis for a while?"

"Sure." Fuji picked up one of the many beaten-up looking up balls around him. "Nya, Fujiko-chan? What happened to all those balls?"

"Oh. Satou-san. She's not a very good tennis player, did you know that?" Eiji laughed a little, though he felt a little guilty.

"Yeah, I kind of suspected that. Look out!" The ball went sharply toward the side of Fuji's face. Fuji quickly moved to the side, his racket out in a flash.

It was easy to forget, with his eternally smiling face and usually calm exterior, that Fuji was, in fact, a tensai. There was one person that never forgot, of course, but she had already left. Eiji, on the other hand, had forgotten for a second. He flipped his racket to his side quickly, a bit taken aback by the speed of his classmate's return.

Fuji smiled. "Ne, good job, Eiji."

"Hoi hoi!" Eiji regained his composure quickly, returning with an almost godly speed back to his usual, ultra composed, acrobatic self.

But even he couldn't help get distracted when he thought he saw a long wave of black hair in the corner of the courts. Eiji shook the image out of his head.

---

"Hello? Oh, it's you, Eiji."

"Hi, Nomura-san. Can I talk to Hika?"

"Why so suddenly?"

"I need to tell her something."

"On sec." Pause. "Sorry, she's busy. Should I take a message or something?"

He'd already hung up.

---

"Are you sure she was really busy, or was she just avoiding you?"

"Takahito-chan, can you please stop talking about this?"

"But which one?"

"I think both."

"You sure."

Silence.

"Yeah, pretty sure."

"You know, you're the only one who hasn't figured it out."

"Figured out what?"

"Why she's mad at you."

"Thanks for sharing."

"You know what you need to do?"

"What?"

"Get down on her level."

"And how do I do that?"

"Just speak softly and you'll be fine."


	4. We Interrupt Our Regular Programming

**Title:** We Interrupt Our Regular Programming

**Word/Page Count:** 4/1,267

**Author's Notes:** I know, I know. I'm dead- I didn't update soon enough. But my inspiration was spent on a bunch of school projects, so I didn't get a chance to write. But I finally sat down and wrote a bunch today, so you better be happy.

**Summary:** Some background on why Eiji started playing tennis; Fuji finally does something useful.

Eiji didn't know how to speak softly, but he'd learn.

All his life, it'd seemed he'd been expected to learn something he'd rather not. Speaking softly was not the first; before that, there had been Sitting Still, Working in Groups, Writing Neatly, Keeping Emotions Under Control (this one wasn't very successful), Putting Band-Aids Over Scars, and, at one time, even Tennis. But those days were long gone. He kept the bandage on his cheek long after the scar had faded; his handwriting was impeccable; and, most of all, he'd dedicated his life and soul to tennis.

But it had taken more than a little convincing.

It was because of Hikari, really. It seemed like everything had led to Hikari lately. The black-haired fireball seemed to be at the center of things lately. However, this was a long time ago- over a year after they had met. Nine years that had melted by like milk candies.

It was just a simple, sweet summer day, the air smelling like dried up rain. Eiji was off in a shady corner of the park, showing off for a group of slightly older students with a mix of scornful jealousy and delight on their faces. Hikari was nearby, sitting a bench and licking an ice-cream cone distractedly. It was then that she heard a loud _plop._

Turning around sharply, she opened her mouth, but there wasn't anything there, so she returned her attention back to Eiji. But then in it came again- _plop._

Hikari gave a little scream, pulling up her legs close to her chest and covering her head. A tennis ball dropped in a perfect arc over her head. It bounced towards Eiji, who was currently in mid-air. He flew toward the side as a few people clapped.

Eiji and Hikari both turned open mouthed to a where a pair of first-year middle students were snickering amongst themselves. The older grade-school students opened their eyes widely, and walked away. Walking over to the bench, Eiji put an arm around Hikari.

"You 'kay, Hika-chan?"

"I-I'm fine. Really." She closed her eyes, took in a shaky breath, and slowly unfolded her body. The middle school students were, by now, exploding in laughter. "Look, the little kiddies are scared!" they taunted. "Isn't that _cute_?"

"P-please stop it."

"How absolutely _adorable_! She's trying to stick up for herself!" One of them was doubled over; the other was trying to look cool for a group of girls nearby who hadn't even noticed the Incredible Bouncing Ball.

"Stop it!"

"Aw, her boyfriend's standing up for her." Hikari's face turned almost the same shade as Eiji's hair- her shyness, while better than it had been when she first came to Tokyo, was still something that cursed her and wouldn't be cured until she was nine- almost four years later.

Before, of course, it was shattered again when she was thirteen. Who ever came up with "unlucky thirteen," anyway? It wasn't a good idea at all. It seemed like a civilized society would just skip over it, going straight from twelve to fourteen, but no. It stayed with her, sticking to her insides peanut butter.

"Eiji-chan, look."

"What?"

"They're carrying tennis rackets."

"And?"

"You've played tennis a few times, right? Play them."

"Hika-chan, I've played it twice. Those senpais are at least fourteen!"

"So?"

"Hika-cha-"

"Just do your acrobatic stuff. You'll be fine."

"But Hika, they're fourteen!"

But Hikari had already bargained with a young boy practicing by himself to buy him an ice cream if he lent his racket to her for a minute. He immediately complied, sticking out a tiny racket that was still half his height.

"Here you go," Hikari said cheerfully, as if she was handing him a flower or a milk candy. Eiji opened his mouth, but just got pushed away, looking more and more like a fish.

"I-I'm going to play you!" Eiji said, attempting to be loud but his voice cracking somewhere in the middle. His senpais looked at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"You're joking, right?"

"No."

The taller of the two gave a little "what can you do?" shrug, then grabbed his racket. "Okay, if you can win a game against me, we'll apologize. But under no other terms."

"Alright." Eiji's hand pulsed with the effort of gripping his too-big racket.

"And I'll serve."

"Okay." The middle schooler turned to the side, extended his arm, and served the ball with a bit too much force toward a corner. Eiji kept looking smaller and smaller. Hikari hit against the fence, her eyes wide. "Fifteen love," she muttered.

The senpai served again, exactly the same as before. Once again, Eiji's small legs didn't make it to the corner. "Thirty love," came a voice from outside, this time with a bit of malice.

And, once again, the senpai served. _C'mon. This is for Hika, not you. _Staring at the ball for a second, he quickly distinguished it from the green-and-brown background of the tennis court. Eiji ran after it, but even him running at full speed wasn't fast enough.

So, instead the jumped. Flipped, actually. It looked pretty spectacular from every angle. Hikari smiled widely. "Fifteen thirty!" she cheered. Eiji grinned. "Didjou see that, Hika-chan? Didja?" Hikari nodded enthusiastically in response.

Eiji won that game- the first game he ever won, just be jumping and flipping and generally having too much fun. The middle schooler, completely dumbfounded, snorted.

"We'll hear from you in a few years," he said, walking off.

That was the last they ever heard of him. Both of the boys, brothers, were moving to Hokkaido the next day. That was the last game in Tokyo they played.

---

Honestly, it's hard to hold on to the innocence of everyday life. Everything passes by at a pace faster than life, until words and ideas are blurred into the mess and emotions are left behind.

A sentimental Eiji is hard to find. But the minute he saw that white dot on the street, he ran into his house and grabbed the phone.

---

Messages: Five.

"Hey Hika, it's Eiji, and I was wondering if you cou-"

BEEP.

"Hika-chan, its Eiji, could you please pi-"

BEEP.

"Nomura-san, can you please get Hika to-"

BEEP.

"Hika, please please please pick up, it's really importa-"

BEEP.

"Satou-san, it's Fuji. I've been watching Eiji try and call you for the last twenty minutes, and it's losing its humor fast. I'd appreciate it if you called back."

Sighing, Hikari picked up the phone. She dialed his number- all the way to the second to last digit. But suddenly, she hung up.

---

"Nya, Fuji, do you think it worked?"

"I really doubt it."

---

**Hika, it's Eiji.**

_What do you want, Kikumaru?_

**Will you please stop calling me that? It's annoying.**

_Is that all you want to say?_

**No. Why are you mad at me?**

_I told you all ready._

**But jealous of what?**

_Ask Fuji. He's a lot more knowledgeable than you._


	5. Realizations

**Title:** Realizations

**Word/Page Count:** 1,365/5

**Author's Notes:** snickers I can't even tell you how much fun it was to write this chapter. After sleeping off some Benadryl (I hate allergies) I ended up bursting with ideas, and so this chapter spawned. Originally, Fuji was supposed to play only a small role in the chapter, but it morphed itself as I wrote. So. Enjoy! After this, I'm guessing there'll be about two or three more chapters, depending on if people want an epilogue or not- mention it in your review.

**Summary:** The moment we've all been waiting for! Involves sushi, phone calls, and Echizen in a dress.

Eiji couldn't help but fume. But really, how _dare _she? He crumpled up the note, stuffing it into a pocket haphazardly.

"Kikumaru, read next," the teacher said, loudly interrupting Eiji's chain of thoughts.

"Page eleven, line ten," Fuji whispered. _More knowledgeable, yeah right,_ he thought. The class hid their nervous giggles behind their hands as he started to read page 110.

---

"Moshi moshi?"

"It's Fuji."

"Ah, Fuji-san. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me."

"WHAT?!"

"Not on a date."

"Good."

"But to talk for a while. Can you meet me at Kawamura Sushi after school tomorrow? I don't have practice."

"Kawamura? Isn't that the schizophrenic dude?"

"Yes, but he's actually quite nice when he isn't 'burning'."

"What?"

"Never mind. Can you make it?"

"Sure."

"Okay then. Bye, Satou-chan."

"Don't call me that!"

---

"You're late," Hikari said dryly, her arms crossed in front of her mint-green uniform. The late afternoon air had started to chill, and she'd only brought a light sweater, her heavier coat still being in the wash.

"Ah, gomen," Fuji replied cheerfully. "I had to get some work from when I was sick. So, we're off?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "What direction is the Kawa-whatever sushi place in?"

Momo peeked his head out from the side of the school gate. "Hey, Echizen! Look!"

"MOMO-SENPAI THAT'S MY HEAD!"

"I don't care about your head right now! Look, it's Fuji-senpai! He's on a date!"

"Ah?" Ryoma carefully released his head from Momo's clutches. "A date? With who?"

"Satou Hikari," Inui said, showing up from nowhere (as usual).

"W-where'd you come from, Inui-senpai?"

"Ah, just in the neighborhood. She's in Fuji and Eiji's class, as well as Eiji's neighbor. Was on the girl's tennis club regulars part of her second year but quit halfway through the year." Inui pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Ii data."

"But how are we going to follow them?"

But Inui was already on it. "Ah, Taka-san? Fuji's going to your place." Pause. "No, with a girl." Pause. "Satou Hikari. Black hair, very short…" Pause. "Yes, that's her. Now can you help us out?" Pause. "Oh, just make a lot of wasabi sushi and tea." Inui closed his phone.

"Echizen, we need to get you a dress."

---

"Why did I get stuck being the girl?" Ryoma hissed, fixing a heavy wig on his head so that it wasn't slanted at an awkward angle.

"Because your eyes are the biggest. Now shut up, here they come!" Momo hissed back. He, Ryoma, and Inui were supposed to play the part of a father, a son, and a daughter. As Inui was the tallest and the only one of them who owned a suit, he was assigned the father; Ryoma was automatically assigned the part of the daughter for the fact that his eyes were more suited for a girl's than a boy's face. Actually, he would have looked quite pretty as girl, if he stopped scowling for a moment.

Fuji and Hikari walked in, talking animatedly about a substitute teacher who, in their own words, should have been put on anti-psychotics immediately. Well, Fuji was talking; Hikari was nodding every couple of sentences with a slight smile on her face, though nowhere near as big as Fuji had wanted it to be.

Hikari quietly slipped off her loafers in a corner and shivered. With her thin socks exposed, it felt even colder than it already was. The sky was darkening quickly, one of the first exposed bits of winter finally decided to reveal themselves. Fuji, on the other hand, had worn thick socks with his already slightly too big loafers. It was typical of his mother, much to fashion-conscious Yumiko's aggravation, to buy shoes and clothes a bit too big so that they would last longer. Fuji chuckled quietly, amazed at where his train of thought had led him.

"What's so funny?" asked Hikari inquisitively. "Nothing," Fuji replied. "I was just thinking about shoes and socks." Hikari gave him an odd look before sitting down cross-legged at a table in the corner.

"So, why'd you bring me here?"

"Because they make good wasabi sushi," Fuji replied in a point-blank kind of way. Hikari blinked.

"You actually eat that stuff?"

"Yeah. It's actually very good."

"Whatever."

"What are they talking about?" Momo whispered, leaning over toward Ryoma.

"I don't know. Something about sushi."

"Sushi? Why sushi?"

"Maybe because it's a SUSHI shop…" Meanwhile, Inui was obviously just scribbling data down in his notebook in his trademark messy shorthand (although it was hard to tell if he was doing it on Momo, Ryoma, or Fuji).

"Wasabi sushi, right?" Taka-san magically emerged from seemingly nowhere. For whatever reason (probably Inui's cell phone), he had seen Fuji and Hikari show up already. Hikari raised her eyebrows- this was getting just a little suspicious.

Fuji picked up a small role of sushi and twirled it around his fingers expertly in a startlingly Mizuki-like fashion. "So, what have you done to Eiji?" he said calmly, as if he was asking how her mother was or what the weather was like outside.

Hikari gave a little internal jump. "What are you talking about?"

"I saw you passing notes yesterday and he's been mad at me since. What'd you do to him?"

Notes? Oh… right. "I told him the truth- that he should ask you why I'm mad at him."

"That's not the truth. That's a command."

"Same difference."

"Not really." An awkward silence fell between them, punctuated by a soft ripping sound from Fuji biting his sushi. Hikari simply stared at him, appalled.

"I'll make you deal."

"Alright. What is it?"

"If you can eat this sushi-" he cocked his head pointedly at the half-eaten bundle between his fingers- "You have to tell Fuji why you're really mad at him."

"But I don't know WHY I'm mad at him!"

"I know why."

"Then can you tell me?"

"Only after you eat this sushi." Hikari stared at the plate in front of her, eyes wide, and reluctantly picked up piece. Holding it in her hand for a moment, she carefully nibbled off the end, then froze, the sushi falling with a soft thud on the ground.

"Fuji-san? Do you know if Kawamura-san has any tea?"

---

Several gallons of tea and many, many bathroom trips later (Fuji finally admitted that bread was the best cure for the spiciness; Hikari put all rules of courtesy aside and ran inside the shop's kitchen and bit off a piece of bread so big that she nearly choked on it), Hikari sat down opposite Fuji again. Inui pulled out what appeared to be a tape recorder.

"Okay, Mr. Observant. Tell me why I'm mad at Eiji." Momo and Ryoma leaned over toward the two; Ryoma's wig was balanced precariously on his head and threatened to fall off at any moment.

"That's simple." He smiled. "Why do you think that you suddenly wanted to make ties with Eiji again? Why you fell so simply back into using old nicknames? Why you bicker over his inobservance?"

Fuji opened his eyes carefully. "Satou-chan, you've fallen in love." He got up, brushing off his slacks and going toward the door to get his bag. "Well, ja then. See you tomorrow, right?" He walked over toward where Inui, Momo and Ryoma sat. "Oh, and Echizen- that's not your color." He attempted to hide behind his bangs, but failed miserably. Momo simply laughed nervously.

Hikari, on the other hand, sat, spouting tears and words that didn't make any sense, though they all revolved around two words: "Eiji" and "Love".

---

"Eh? Fuji? What's wrong with Hika-chan and you?" Eiji asked, his blue eyes wide. "You've both been acting so _weird. _Well, Hika was acting weird already… But you usually don't. What's wrong?"

Fuji simply smiled. "Eiji, you know how you've had a crush on Hikari since your first year?"

"WHO TOLD YOU THAT?"

"No one, it was easy to tell. Though I have to say-" Fuji gave a nervous, out of place laugh- "You're older siblings aren't the most trustworthy."

Eiji didn't even bother to fume. It would have been a waste.


	6. Of Lollipops and First Kisses

**Title:** Of Lollipop Hair and First Kisses

**Word/Page Count:** 1,672/6

**Author's Notes:** After watching DNAngel for a bit, I was inspired, so this chapter mutated from Eiji hugging Hikari and breaking her shell to… this. XD I shared the "shut up, brain" line with my friend during dance class and she wouldn't stop laughing for about ten minutes, so that's a good sign, right? Anyways, enjoy!

**Summary:** What started out as Hikari lending her umbrella to a stranger turns disastrous very, very quickly.

Messages: One.

"Eiji, this is Hikari. DON'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING FUJI SAYS HE'S LYING HE'S LYING HE'S LYING HE'S-"

Beep.

Eiji noted with satisfaction that Hikari had called him Eiji.

---

Hikari's POV

I hate Fuji. It's too bad it impossible to hate him.

After the ill-fated psuedo-date, Obaa-chan didn't do anything to help. In fact, she BURNED my manga magazines. ALL of them. How am I supposed to process this without m favorite shoujo heroines?

Not very well, I can tell you that.

So I did my homework in record time (all wrong, I'm sure) and lay in bed blankly for almost two hours before my mom screamed that the phone was for me. "It's a boy!" she mouthed as I rolled my eyes and grabbed the phone.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Hello, Satou-chan." I froze. The phone bore a hole in my hand.

"…What do you want, Fuji-san?"

"Can you do me another favor?"

---

So this is why I'm standing, freezing, at an exhibition match.

I'm still not sure how Seigaku made it nationals. It was luck, I swear. But ever nationals have been over, all they do is play in small tournaments and exhibition matches, like this one against Rikkaidai. Unfortunately, as the only other girl here who doesn't come to stare at the players is a twenty-something reporter named Shiba, it was just barely bearable.

"Ah? It's starting to rain," Shiba said, her hand outstretched to catch the raindrops.

"I'll go get my umbrella," I said quickly. I'd left it near the vending machines while getting some cider. Zipping up my jacket as far as it'd go, I ran over to the machines.

"Huh?" It wasn't there, even though I knew I'd dropped it in the bushes a few minutes prior.

"Looking for this?" I scowled- the voice sounded faintly familiar of someone I couldn't stand, Nomuri Takahito. My jaw dropped as I turned around.

Because his hair was pink. BRIGHT pink. Lollipop pink. It suited him, though, all scraggly around a squarish face.

Shut up, brain.

He smiled as I nodded furiously. Why was my face suddenly so warm against the cold rain?

"Oh, do you need to use it?" I blurted a little too loudly. He shook his head, even though his yellow shirt stuck to his skin.

…Shit.

Trying to ignore the fact that I was fraternizing with the enemy, I opened the burlap-colored umbrella over both of our heads. "I insist," I said, smiling weakly. His own smile was much more sincere.

We walked, side-by-side and incredibly silent.

---

3rd Person POV

"Who is that?"

"Who?"

"The girl Marui-senpai's walking with!"

Niou choked on his water.

"That's kind of rude of him," Yagyuu said calmly, as if seeing Marui walk along under an umbrella with a girl who wasn't a fan girl was nothing unusual. "He's making her hold the umbrella.

Niou sputtered uncontrollably.

"It's Satou Hikari, Seigaku third year," Yanagi said suddenly. His whole team (save for Sanada and Yukimura, who were used to it) stared at him.

"How do you know that?" Jackal asked, sounding slightly scared. Yanagi shrugged.

Marui appeared, his pink hair slightly damp from the rain.

"Thanks," he said roughly, already slipping toward the concrete canopy.

"You're welcome," Hikari replied, her voice barely audible.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Niou burst out laughing. "You got your work cut out, Marui!"

"What are you talking about?" Marui asked, an uncharacteristic nervousness creeping into his voice.

"She goes to Seigaku, of all places! You have bad taste," Niou said loudly. The words registered through Marui's brain slowly as he turned red.

"I do not have a crush on that girl!" he said hotly. "I don't even know her name!"

"Satou Hikari," Yanagi repeated. In all honestly, Marui thought Hikari was a very pretty name, but he wasn't about to say that out loud.

"Whatever," he replied Niou nonchalantly, putting an arm around his Pepto-Bismol haired best friend. "It's not like we'll meddle or anything.

The disbelieving looks from the rest of the team were enough to say otherwise.

---

Hikari's POV

I will never forget the look on his face.

I walked back to my spot with Shiba, giggling like a giddy second grader. Lifting it over her head (she was, by now completely soaked), she clucked her tongue a little.

"What took you so long?" she asked, wringing out her bangs as they fell in drops in the grass. "Anyways, the rain's only getting worse, so they're canceling it. Isn't that awful?" she groaned. Despite myself, a tiny giggle escaped my lips, barely audible over the sound of the rain hitting the pavement near us.

"It would have been nice to see the match, too. Apparently they got even better since last time we saw them. You know Marui Bunta? He's-"

"Which one is that?" I interrupted suddenly.

"The one with the pink hair. He was originally in doubles two, but they were going to switch him for this match because they thought his and Niou Masaharu's styles went better together against the Golden Pair."

_Shit. Shit. Shit. _My brain started sending off alarm signals. "This is bad," I muttered a little too loudly.

"What's wrong?"

This is the point where I should have shut my mouth. This was when I should have never said anything and just stayed quiet.

But of course, I never manage to do the right thing.

"I-I lent him my umbrella," I stuttered out quickly. "I guess he found it in the bushes or something, but when I saw him, he was soaked, and, Shiba-san, I couldn't help it, I walked him over to his team and-"

"I get it," she said, cutting me off halfway through. I stared at her. "How?" I asked.

Shiba winked. "Remember, I'm a photographer," she said. "I'm good at looking at details _and _the whole picture."

Then I remembered someone else who had good eyesight.

Kikumaru Eiji sat, staring at both of us, a hauntingly blank look in his eyes.

---

"Hey, Hika-chi!" Eiji cheered, full of life as if nothing had happened between us. I glared at him through my bangs (which, as I thought of it, needed a trim),

"Ah? What's wrong, Hika-chi?"

"Would you please not call me that?"

"Then what?"

"Hikari would be fine."

"Okay, Hi-ka-ri!"

I sighed. How could he be so casual when that look he gave me the day before still haunted me? Every time I thought about Marui Bunta I blushed, which made my skin crawl, which just made me blush even harder. It was a vicious cycle, long and inescapable.

"Hi-ka-ri, Hi-ka-ri!" Eiji interrupted my chain of thoughts abruptly. The one thing that I couldn't understand was that, for once, the name "Eiji" flowed easily to my tongue, soft and sweet and resting.

---

Marui's POV

Niou may be my best friend, but that doesn't mean I have to _like _him.

"So, how's your psuedo-relationship going, Maru-chan?" he said, smirking.

I pulled on his braid. He yelped.

Yagyuu frowned. "Don't do that," he said reproachingly. I rolled my eyes. I swear, ever since those two were paired up for doubles, Yagyuu's become like the team mom. Well, Mura-buchou's the team mom, but Yagyuu comes in at a close second.

_Very_ close.

I think that's part of the reason why Mura had me and Niou team up for the Seigaku match- he knows my quirks better than anyone and I know his. We cover up each other's holes and our playing styles never overlap.

But at that moment, I wasn't in the mood for Rikkaidai's famed sadist. I even took a bus from my house right outside Tokyo to central Tokyo, just to get away.

A ball flew by my head as soon as I entered the street courts.

"Go-gomen!" came a voice as it rolled by.

"Daijoubuka?" she said. "I'm fine," I replied, brushing off a slightly scratched knee and looking up at my assailant.

Satou Hikari.

"I'm fine, Satou-san."

"Marui-san? How do you know my name?"

"How do you know mine?"

Silence fell between us.

"Shiba-san- she's a reporter- she told me," she admitted quickly.

Feeling awkward- after all, she got my name from a legitimate source, not a genius- I examined the angle of where the ball had come from.

"Your wrist was at an odd angle," I said. "And your elbow was to bent. Look." Clamping a hand over her's, I blushed, not quite realizing what I was doing. A few people stared- it's not every day you see some random boy engulf a girl. I simply tilted her wrist.

Her face turned red, red, red as her hand came to the correct position.

---

Hikari's POV

It felt like a crime, even though it really wasn't. But either way, blushing in front of Marui Bunta made my skin feel caked in guilt.

But still, it's kind of hard not to blush when someone engulfs you, trying to "correct your posture". And with most other guys, I would've simply said, _yeah, right. _

But there was something about Marui-san. He was so… warm. His grip was soft and his wrists were strong and he simply made me feel… at ease.

And his hair was simply a beacon.

His hands were so warm and mine were so clammy; I never wanted to go away.

---

Niou's POV

I didn't choose the nickname of the "Insane Sadist" of Rikkaidai (though it does fit). It was the kouhai's idea. Honestly, you hang one dead, oversized tarantula in front of his face and he screams that he's scarred for life.

The brat.

Of course, it's always suspicious when Marui goes on the bus by himself, since he walks home. And since I needed blackmail material, I followed him. I thought it'd be okay.

It was fantastic.

A ball whizzing past his head, him "correcting her posture", kissing her, her breaking down crying, saying she didn't want her first kiss to be that way.

It was the best kind of blackmail.


	7. Forevermore

**Title:** Forevermore

**Word/Page Count:** 6/313

**Author's Notes:** I can't believe I made it this far: It's the last chapter! And (mostly for luvracci, who wants an encore- you need to resend me that message, I deleted it) I'm making a sequel, based on Hozumi, who appears in the last couple of lines. So, look out- I'm not done yet!

Summary: The aftermath, mostly. And Eiji learns to act uncharacteristically. LAST CHAPTER!

**Free Plugs:** Luvracci (heh, I mention her so many times), Sandileina (- is the Queen of Rikkaidai), GsandM (Queen of Rikkaidai crackfics), This Corner of the Room by Senzafine (it's one of those amazing, one of a kind fics. Read it, really.)

_He tilted up her hand, standing behind her like a bodyguard. Then, on an impulse, kissed her, quickly and silently. Her hand's grip on the racket quickly loosened as it fell on the ground with clatter, and she herself broke down, sobbing and tears running hard and fast down her face._

"_What's wrong?" asked Marui._

"_I didn't want my first kiss to be this way," she said between sobs. It was only then she realized it was one of the few truthful things that she had said that day._

_All the others had been to a certain red head._

---

Hikari's POV

My mom asked why I had been crying when I came home. How do moms know this stuff? Do they have some sort of radar that makes them realize when their daughters are confused beyond belief and have been crying for the last good part of an hour?

So I told her everything. It took almost an hour, starting from the very beginning to the umbrella incident to the kiss.

The kiss took the cake in dramaticness, though.

She sat, her hands folded in her lap. "So, you don't love him, do you?" she said quietly.

"No, I don't!" I answered hotly. "I love…" And then it came, crashing down hard and fast.

"I love Eiji."

The shell I kept so clean and free of cracks for so long broke into a thousand, million pieces of glass.

---

3rd Person POV

Something was weird the next day, according to Eiji. And it wasn't the fact that his Kaa-san had made Western food and now his stomach wouldn't shut up. It was something much, much weirder.

Hikari kept her eyes downward the whole day, not even telling off Eiji when he called her "Hika-chi" again. Whenever someone spoke to her, her voice was quick and quiet. So, Eiji decided to visit her. She had a sliding door in the back of the house that lead to the kitchen, which was only a short walk to the living room. _I'll visit it after practice, _he thought, grinning.

Hikari was turning over the whole house when he got to the living room.

The first thing he noticed was the lack of manga magazine that had infected the room like tinsel before. Every issue of Nakayoshi, Ribon, and LaLa from the last five years were gone- all of them.

"Where'd all the magazines go?" Eiji asked. Hikari jumped about a meter into the air before answering, "Kaa-chan burned them."

"She _burned _them?"

"Yeah, and we almost got evicted for it, too." Eiji burst out laughing.

"What's so funny? Oh, go make yourself useful. I had a CD on loop- Hiroki Aiba- can you put in the next one?"

"The English one?"

"Yeah, Kaa-chan got it on a business trip and I still need to listen to it."

"A-ru A-me-ri-ka-nu Re-je-ke-tsu?"

"Yeah, that one."

A song started- some kind of strange, electronic sound, with words barely filtering through. Then came a chorus of guitars and voice and drums. "What's he saying?" Eiji thought out loud. "I don't know, English is my worst subject!" Hikari answered fiercely.

She was lying, Eiji knew. English was her second best subject, right after Japanese History, and even in her worst she still had 89.

"Hikari, why are you lying?" Eiji asked quietly.

She screamed, her voice piercing through the soft, cheerful melodies. Then, of all things, she burst out crying.

_Tears fall, down your face  
The taste, is something new  
Something that I know  
Moving on is, easiest when I am around you._

So bottle up old love,  
And throw it out to sea,  
Watch it away as you cry  
Now a year has past  
The seasons go

"Hika?" Eiji stared at her. She sobbed, the knees of her jeans wet.

Please just don't play with me  
My paper heart will bleed  
This wait for destiny wont do  
Be with me please I beseech you  
Simple things, that make you run a-way  
Catch you if I can

"I-I'm sorry, Eiji."

"Hika, what are you sorry for?"

Summertime, the nights are so long  
The leaves fall down, and so do I into the arms of a friend  
Winter nights  
My bedside is cold, for I am gone  
And spring blossoms you...  
To me

"Marui Bunta from Rikkaidai. I-I kissed him."

The pieces of glass that used to be her shell were ground into fine dust as Eiji hugged her.

---

The change happened quickly, yet inevitably, if there was such a thing.

Hikari smiled. Hikari talked. Hikari would go around and make her eyes sparkle every time that anyone looked at her. It took people a while to figure out that she hadn't changed- she had just become the person that she used to be. But the one thing that hadn't been there before was the blushing. She blushed all the time, even when she was only with one other person. And when the Gaggle (remember them?) figured out that she only blushed when she was around a certain person, the gossip finally erupted into a silent hell.

"There's no way she can have a crush on him. No. Way. It just doesn't work like that. I mean, Satou Hikari of all people… Come on, really. It just doesn't work that way."

"I so agree."

"I mean, look at how short she is!" At this, everyone nodded.

"Hey, you know what? Their moms are supposed to be friends. She's probably going to pretend to like him so that their parents are happy."

"Right, that makes perfect sense!"

"Perfect sense."

"Perfect sense."

"Perfect sense."

They exchanged grins.

---

The next day, there was an unidentifiable object in Hikari's bento.

"What… _is _that?"

"I'm not sure. I think it's a spider."

"Nya, it has too many legs to be a spider."

Hikari grabbed it by a leg and threw it in the trash.

---

Her lunch was brown the next day.

"Is that soy sauce?"

"I think so."

"I thought you liked soy sauce."

"Yes, but I don't like a flood of it."

Hikari didn't eat lunch that day.

---

"…Okay, now this is just ridiculous."

Hikari threw away her lunch. The green goop coming out of the sides was warning enough.

--

"Satou-san!" Hikari turned. The name sounded so foreign now- the only people who still called her Satou-san were the Gaggle.

"Ah, Motoko-san. What is it?"

"Uhm… I was wondering… You come over to my house next Saturday after class?" Fuji's ears perked up. He went over and whispered something in Eiji's ear.

"Why?"

"Because-"

"Oi, What are you doing to Hika?" Eiji stood next to Hikari, Hikari's own jaw stiffening. Then, almost as an afterthought, he slung an arm around her. Hika winced, her face turning redder by the second.

The Gaggle opened their mouths, looking more like fish than ducks, and walked slowly away.

Hikari lifted Eiji's arm up and over her shoulder. "That was incredibly corny."

"I know."

Hikari stared for a moment, then walked over, hiding a smile.

---

"FujiwhatdidyoudotoEiji?"

"…"

"I'm not talking to Fuji, am I?"

"ANIKI, PHONE FOR YOU!"

"Ah, Satou-kun."

"What did you do to Fuji? He went all corny-romance-movie on me."

"I told him to act uncharacteristically."

"…"

"Satou-kun?"

"Fuji, you are a genius."

"Thank you. I'm very honored that you say that."

---

Stories can interweave unknowingly.

"I'll be over in a second."

Simple words can change lives.

"_Be quick, nya!"_

Sometimes, the changes one person makes can set off a chain of events longer than they might know.

"_Hey, Hozumi-chan, can you make it over here?"_

But the only thing we might know is this:

"_Hika, who's this?"_

There's only one way we want the years to melt by-

"His name's Fuji Syuusuke. I don't think you know him."

Like milk candies,

"No. I don't."

All on a long chain.


End file.
